Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

[TheBigA]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

You sound like you know what your talking about, very official sounding, but you've made assumptions based on only a fraction of the reasons for the industry's decline, a decline that has been hastened by cheapskate operators who bought high and accrued huge dept. So much debt that they may never dig themselves out, and all because of their own greed and ignorance.

I have spent my life studying the history of broadcasting, and one of the consistent trends I've seen, since the 1920s, is the cheapness of owners. One of the reasons for the start of the radio networks in 1926 was to provide cheap programming for stations, so local stations didn't have to hire local actors or musicians. The networks bore the costs of this programming, which grew to become very expensive. So much so, by the 1940s, they replaced live musicians with recordings, and DJs were born. Call it the "first purge." I did a project several years ago where I spoke with veterans of the Golden Age of radio. We talked about what brought an end to that period. They all felt the programming they did was still relevant to today. But they said cheap owners were looking for ways to save money. So they got rid of the live bands, the actors and producers, and all the engineers. That happened in the 40s, long before any consolidation.

The reality is that the American system of broadcasting is based on private ownership. It's a unique system that turns radio into a business. That often means that they make business decisions that affect programming. That's what you're talking about. Ironically, we also have a publicly funded broadcasting system in this country, one that receives taxpayer money, and it's currently under fire by political groups looking to defund it. So you have greed and ignorance on one side, and political opportunism on the other. No one's looking out for the public. That's the American system.

Everyone knows that the minute radio stations weren't required to provide news and public affairs, they fired those people. Long before deregulation. The minute they didn't have to have on site engineers, they fired them. The minute they didn't have to do community ascertainment, more cutbacks. It's like every 8 to 10 years, there's another purge. But my point is it happened before 1996. You may not like what they do, but they own these stations, and they're allowed to run them however they see fit. If that means running them into the ground, so be it. They follow in a long history of owners who ran their stations into the ground.

But as I've said, it's very clear to me, if you follow the trends all the way from the start of broadcasting, and couple it with the current financial situation that's affected all industries, you'll reach the same conclusion that I have: Regardless of the 96 Act, or how many stations a company can own, the radio industry was going to change dramatically, and lots of people were going to lose their jobs. I can say that because there are small stations, not owned by any of the big radio companies, that are in the exact same situation, and are also letting people go. This isn't strictly an ownership issue. Regardless. the law is the law, and when the law changes, people need to adapt. And that's what's happened in broadcasting.

 

[briancraig]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

Since this is not an ethnomusicology board, I won't go into this too deep but of course it matters that the Beach Boys were from L.A. You are correct that Brian Wilson could not surf but he was writing songs about the culture he was observing. His brother Dennis was a surfer and so were many of his friends. His music would have sounded extremely different if he had been raised in Boise.

There have always been national hits, but I think you'd be surprised at how different top 40 playlists could be across the country. It wasn't just the national hits plus one or two local records. There are dozens of hits that KHJ played as top 10 records that never made it into the top 40 on Billboard. There are also examples of different versions of songs being hits in some cities instead of the national versions. Gloria by Them was the hit in L.A. not The Shadows of Knight version that was played in most of the country.

I understand it is not 1965 still and there are other competitive and economic factors in play now that did not exist in the past. But it is not in the public interest for one company to own 800 radio stations. This has implications politically. It is not just about making music and radio stale.

I'm not advocating going back to companies only being able to own 14 stations and 1 AM and 1 FM per market. I'm not in favor of requiring engineers on duty all the time or requiring stations to devote so many hours to news or public affairs.

But there is a middle ground somewhere in between what we used to have in radio and what we have today.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

I understand it is not 1965 still and there are other competitive and economic factors in play now that did not exist in the past.

And once again, the change in the record label situation in the late 70s and 80s made a difference in the music heard on the radio. Small regional labels simply had no impact during this time.

But there is a middle ground somewhere in between what we used to have in radio and what we have today.

The reality is there won't be re-regulation. The FCC is happy with the ownership rules as they are, and they won't be changing. Same with Congress. There will be no re-regulation coming from them either. Radio stations simply do what works best for them. If they can make more money by hiring lots of staff and playing lots of local music, then that's what they'll do. But if advertising budgets are being cut, and that's where the money comes from to pay everyone, then it's likely staffing will be cut, regardless of who the owners are.

 

[LKellerIII]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

Voice Tracking has been around long before 1992 as you stated. Automation systems were in wide use back when Nixon was President.

You can edit that to - when LBJ was President...or perhaps even Eisenhower. KRLA voice-tracked all but drive times for a couple of years about 1967. About the same year, K-Earth's predcessor on 101.1 (KHJ-FM) ran Bill Drake's automated formats - first Hit Parade, then Solid Gold in the early 70s. Songs were back-announced by various Boss Jocks - all jumbled together in the course of any hour, and without saying their names. Both of the formats were syndicated, and ran in markets all over the country. The local IDs (call letters) would be inserted right before the stop set, and included the current time.

For a couple of years before 95.5 became KLOS with local programming, it was KABC-FM, and ran the automated and syndicated "Love" progressive rock format with no local DJs.

I don't know when automated systems began on the Beautiful Music stations, but perhaps as early as the 50s, when the "automation" consisted of reel-to-reel tapes with a local ID inserted a couple of times an hour.

 

[Big E]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

So now I hear that Cumulus might take over the LA stations this summer...changes might happen sooner than Later. Time to polish up those airchecks and resumes.

 

[calguy]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

I have spent my life studying the history of broadcasting, and one of the consistent trends I've seen, since the 1920s, is the cheapness of owners. One of the reasons for the start of the radio networks in 1926 was to provide cheap programming for stations, so local stations didn't have to hire local actors or musicians. The networks bore the costs of this programming, which grew to become very expensive. So much so, by the 1940s, they replaced live musicians with recordings, and DJs were born. Call it the "first purge." I did a project several years ago where I spoke with veterans of the Golden Age of radio. We talked about what brought an end to that period. They all felt the programming they did was still relevant to today. But they said cheap owners were looking for ways to save money. So they got rid of the live bands, the actors and producers, and all the engineers. That happened in the 40s, long before any consolidation.

The reality is that the American system of broadcasting is based on private ownership. It's a unique system that turns radio into a business. That often means that they make business decisions that affect programming. That's what you're talking about. Ironically, we also have a publicly funded broadcasting system in this country, one that receives taxpayer money, and it's currently under fire by political groups looking to defund it. So you have greed and ignorance on one side, and political opportunism on the other. No one's looking out for the public. That's the American system.

Everyone knows that the minute radio stations weren't required to provide news and public affairs, they fired those people. Long before deregulation. The minute they didn't have to have on site engineers, they fired them. The minute they didn't have to do community ascertainment, more cutbacks. It's like every 8 to 10 years, there's another purge. But my point is it happened before 1996. You may not like what they do, but they own these stations, and they're allowed to run them however they see fit. If that means running them into the ground, so be it. They follow in a long history of owners who ran their stations into the ground.

But as I've said, it's very clear to me, if you follow the trends all the way from the start of broadcasting, and couple it with the current financial situation that's affected all industries, you'll reach the same conclusion that I have: Regardless of the 96 Act, or how many stations a company can own, the radio industry was going to change dramatically, and lots of people were going to lose their jobs. I can say that because there are small stations, not owned by any of the big radio companies, that are in the exact same situation, and are also letting people go. This isn't strictly an ownership issue. Regardless. the law is the law, and when the law changes, people need to adapt. And that's what's happened in broadcasting.

These are all valid points about the evolution of radio. Yes, owners have always done just the minimum, just what will get them by. You don't seem to see what I have as someone who has worked steadily inside the industry for 35 years. I don't see it as an outside observer, I've lived it. Yes, radio has changed over the years with a metamorphosis every so many years thanks to whatever current trends were taking place as well as because of technological leaps that were made through the years. As someone who started out in an era when carts and vinyl records were the state of the art, I can without a doubt say that the Communications Act of 1996 was one of the most horrible things to happen to radio. Yeah, I know, station owners mismanaged their properties over the years, but for the most part no one was losing much money. 1996 was a game changer of giant proportions. You can study trends and come to your conclusions, but you're mistaken if you think that this was not a turning point in radio history where owners became even greedier, because now they could be. The evolution from live bands and network programs to where we are today didn't happen overnight, but one act made more change in one year than in the previous 50 year.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

You don't seem to see what I have as someone who has worked steadily inside the industry for 35 years. I don't see it as an outside observer, I've lived it.

What makes you think I haven't?

Look...someone moved the cheeze. Sorry, but it happened. It happens a lot in active industries. And as I've said multiple times, the changes you've listed that have happened in broadcasting would all have happened without changing ownership. How can I say this? Because those same changes have taken place at stations that were not sold or affected by the 96 Act. In fact, non-corporate radio stations are most likely to run the satellite-delivered formats than corporate stations. The non-corporate stations are less likely to take musical challenges. And they're more likely to operate with bare minimum staff. The shift in ownership began when ABC was sold to Cap Cities and NBC was sold to GE in the 80s. Lots of other long time radio companies got out of ownership many years before the 96 Act. So clearly changes were going to happen, and as I've said, already happened by the time 1996 rolled around. All the companies that remained knew they were going to have to make operational changes to survive after Docket 40-50. That's what the 96 Act was all about. If you want to blame something, blame Docket 40-50.

 

[calguy]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

You don't seem to see what I have as someone who has worked steadily inside the industry for 35 years. I don't see it as an outside observer, I've lived it.

What makes you think I haven't?

Look...someone moved the cheeze. Sorry, but it happened. It happens a lot in active industries. And as I've said multiple times, the changes you've listed that have happened in broadcasting would all have happened without changing ownership. How can I say this? Because those same changes have taken place at stations that were not sold or affected by the 96 Act. In fact, non-corporate radio stations are most likely to run the satellite-delivered formats than corporate stations. The non-corporate stations are less likely to take musical challenges. And they're more likely to operate with bare minimum staff. The shift in ownership began when ABC was sold to Cap Cities and NBC was sold to GE in the 80s. Lots of other long time radio companies got out of ownership many years before the 96 Act. So clearly changes were going to happen, and as I've said, already happened by the time 1996 rolled around. All the companies that remained knew they were going to have to make operational changes to survive after Docket 40-50. That's what the 96 Act was all about. If you want to blame something, blame Docket 40-50.

Ahh the "moved the cheese" reference, I was waiting for that. Blame, spread that around, lots of folks involved. Clinton himself admitted that signing that act was one of the worst things he did in office, yeah I know, God only knows all of the bad ones he made. But what we have here is a traditional peeing contest, and since I've made my points, I'm out of this thread. It's clear to me that you have your beliefs, and I have mine.
While I don't dispute what you've said above, I think you're missing the point. Radio got screwed big time with CA1996 and Docket 40-50. What I'm saying is that it's been terrible for THE PEOPLE who make their living in the industry. Oh and I never said you haven't lived it, you just never made that point clear and quite frankly, that's the how you made it sound, like some scholarly outside observer. I've studied the industry as well, I just see it a little differently, from that of an everyday radio worker. If you still have a radio job, I salute you. Like me, you're a survivor. Good luck...

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

If you want to blame something, blame Docket 40-50.

I'm confused... is "Docket 40-50" an inflation adjusted version of Docket 80-90?

 

[TheBigA]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

If you want to blame something, blame Docket 40-50.

I'm confused... is "Docket 40-50" an inflation adjusted version of Docket 80-90?

My mistake...it's docket 80-90.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

If you want to blame something, blame Docket 40-50.

I'm confused... is "Docket 40-50" an inflation adjusted version of Docket 80-90?

My mistake...it's docket 80-90.

It's funny that the roots of 80-90, which set the stage for consolidation, lie with a station belonging to a very small owner and his station in Bonita Springs, FL.

Dick Friedman, who owned WMDD and WDOY(FM) in Fajardo, PR for many years, bought WLEQ, 95.9, a Class A FM half way between Naples and Ft Myers, FL. Around 1980, he determined he could move to 96.1 and become a C and filed for the change.

At that time, a change in frequency and class were considered a "major change" which allowed for the filing of competitive applications; asking for the upgrade was like filing for a new station all over again. I suppose that Dick did not really consider how desirable a C in the fast-growing Naples / Ft. Myers was and how inviting the possibility of filing for the station would be.

A considerable number of competing applications were filed. After several years, Beasley bought out the other remaining applicants and Friedman got far less than what the station had been worth as a successful Class A. He was left with a dreadful Class IV AM in Imokalee, a place with mosquitoes so big that they are required to have registration numbers painted on their wings.

The FCC realized that it was not good to have a station taken away from a decent owner just because the owner wished to improve the station's facilities. In the process of righting that wrong, Docket 80-90 not only made changes in class and power easier, but it also allowed for changes in COL and ammended the table of allocations to the extent that about 600 new stations were allowed... and hundreds more could move to bigger markets.

Through the several decades before this time when the FCC required financial reports it was seen that half of US stations did not make money. Some were break-evens where an owner operator took the profits as salary to avoid double taxation, but there were a lot of marginal and money losing stations. 80-90 threw many more stations into that category by adding move ins to majors, and new stations to smaller ones.

 

[michael hagerty]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

It's funny that the roots of 80-90, which set the stage for consolidation, lie with a station belonging to a very small owner and his station in Bonita Springs, FL.

Dick Friedman, who owned WMDD and WDOY(FM) in Fajardo, PR for many years, bought WLEQ, 95.9, a Class A FM half way between Naples and Ft Myers, FL. Around 1980, he determined he could move to 96.1 and become a C and filed for the change.

At that time, a change in frequency and class were considered a "major change" which allowed for the filing of competitive applications; asking for the upgrade was like filing for a new station all over again. I suppose that Dick did not really consider how desirable a C in the fast-growing Naples / Ft. Myers was and how inviting the possibility of filing for the station would be.

A considerable number of competing applications were filed. After several years, Beasley bought out the other remaining applicants and Friedman got far less than what the station had been worth as a successful Class A. He was left with a dreadful Class IV AM in Imokalee, a place with mosquitoes so big that they are required to have registration numbers painted on their wings.

The FCC realized that it was not good to have a station taken away from a decent owner just because the owner wished to improve the station's facilities. In the process of righting that wrong, Docket 80-90 not only made changes in class and power easier, but it also allowed for changes in COL and ammended the table of allocations to the extent that about 600 new stations were allowed... and hundreds more could move to bigger markets.

Through the several decades before this time when the FCC required financial reports it was seen that half of US stations did not make money. Some were break-evens where an owner operator took the profits as salary to avoid double taxation, but there were a lot of marginal and money losing stations. 80-90 threw many more stations into that category by adding move ins to majors, and new stations to smaller ones.

I made the transition from radio to TV in Reno just before 80-90...and watched from the sidelines as the market went from 7AM and 7FM stations to one of the most over-radioed markets. Every owner with a small FM serving part or all of Lake Tahoe from within that basin moved to throw their sticks atop Mt. Rose, which divides the Tahoe Basin from the Washoe Valley...and effectively became Reno signals.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

I made the transition from radio to TV in Reno just before 80-90...and watched from the sidelines as the market went from 7AM and 7FM stations to one of the most over-radioed markets. Every owner with a small FM serving part or all of Lake Tahoe from within that basin moved to throw their sticks atop Mt. Rose, which divides the Tahoe Basin from the Washoe Valley...and effectively became Reno signals.

I supervised an AM FM combo in Lake City, FL, which the family owner of the company I helped manage expanded in the 80's. There was our combo, one other FM and an AM daytimer and FM in the adjacent county. All were live, all did fairly well and all were live and local.

Our stations did hours of local news and content, with local news blocks on the AM.

Then the FCC dropped a half-dozen FMs into the area. All are mostly automated, have little local content and long ago raced each other to the bottom on rates. A good fully served market is now mostly iPads with a tower.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Re: Wonder if the purchase of citadel by cumulus will affect any of there stations?

Thank the heavens above for peeps like the guy that owns cd 101 in columbus ohio he wont sell not matter how much $$ cc has